Five simple ways to make you love your job and company you work for
The Work From Home (WFH) lifestyle interestingly became very popular, it almost become the new norm since March of last year when pandemic hit the world. Of course, there was already a small percentage of people who were working from home, either on full time or part time basis.
To start with, it was a shock to those who are used to go to their office every day, and many thought this was only a temporary setup and we all in a matter of few months will be back into our traditional work environments that included offices, cubicles and the meeting rooms. Now, over a year later, many are wondering when everything be back to the “business as usual” model.
If you wonder when this will happen, please pause for a small second and adopt that this is the new “business as usual”. Most likely it would not stay exactly as it is today, but it’s definitely not going to be back to the way it was pre-pandemic. There are many employees who were able to learn and adapt, as well as thrived, others has been impatiently waiting for their chance to get back to the office where they can again collaborate and socialised with all their colleagues. Some business are now embraced their new WFH culture, while others cannot wait to bring everyone back in.
The traditional work environment we know of is in an office building. Breaking tradition, even slightly, requires much moire than just deciding and saying too everyone we are shutting down all our offices, you are now all working from home. To make it work we all must create a culture that will keep employees engaged.
Here are five tips which will help you to start accepting and loving your job and the company you work for:
- Recognition
All the remote workers need to know they are doing a good job. It is easy to pickup on emotions and feelings where you are face to face with someone when working with people every day in the same building. Even a smile from manager throughout the day is validating. WFH employees need to know they all are doing well and are appreciated for their work. It could be a one to one video conversation, a written note or even video email thanking the employee for job well done.
- Onboarding
For new workers, engage with them before they ever start the job. The appropriate and correct welcome will be to send a positive message before the first day at work kick in. You can always send a welcome pack filled with company swag, have two or three peers, reach out to welcome them. Remember thought, there won’t be a typical onboarding showing someone around the office or introducing to the all new colleagues. It need to be said that working from home takes a tad more effort to get new employees properly engaged.
- Opportunity
Motivation can come in many forms. All the work from home employees need a sense of security, and one of the ways to do that is to train for future opportunities in the company. They must know there is a path for advancement, or at least that opportunity to learn and grow up within the company. There are always new skills waiting to be picked up at any stage in our life. New work can definitely bring new opportunities.
- Social
For the best part, humans are known as the social creatures, most of us would rather be together than apart. Work place should create opportunities for all WFH employees in order to connect with each other outside of work-related meetings. It could be done in the form of virtual happy hours or even virtual game nights, this is the best practice to get WFH workforce to bond effectively. It is important to keep your stress level as low as possible and this could only be achieved by loosen the work relationships.
- Coach
The best managers are the great coaches. Leaders need to properly engage with their employers. Regardless if it is a one to one setup or group setting, a good coaching session can create a fulfilment and confidence for our employee. Especially showing people that you notice their work can create a sense of pride. Praise always wins, these big and small, for both individuals and groups.
In the next year, we can expect to see more and more employees heading back to the traditional office environments. It is worth mentioning that it won’t get back to levels prior to the pandemic. Reading researches about this topic we can find information that about 20% of employees will continue to work from home on a continuous basis post the pandemic however if we do it right, we can definitely improve our work and we can stay working at home on permanent basis.
Would you rather go back to the office or continue working from home? I will be absolutely thrilled to hear back from you in the comments section below.
Please feel free to let me know.
All the best,
Lucas
